The Aurora Massacre: Is God Still Merciful?

On the Willows wants to recognize the victims of the Aurora Massacre. Our prayers are with all of you who were directly and indirectly affected by this terrible event.

The Aurora Massacre, July 20, 2012

Shortly after the shootings took place in Theater 9, a mom went home to blog about her experience: diving on top of her two teenage daughters to protect them from the gunfire, she thought her life was over at that moment. She, and both of her daughters, survived, but were very shaken up about the traumatic event. As a Christian woman, she anticipated that people would respond by questioning the love and mercy of God. She used her blog post to challenge these thoughts.

She published her blog post thinking that only her eleven followers would read it. The next day, she realized that her article went viral . . . she had over a million hits.

How would you challenge yourself and others if doubting the mercy of God?

About Stephanie Krier

Stephanie Krier Stephanie Krier was raised in beautiful Nor Cal. She and her husband Bobby moved to Boston in 2007, but recently relocated to a little village near Aberdeen, Scotland for her husband's grad program at RGU. Stephanie graduated from UMASS with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Psychology and a Music Minor. She loves to see how individuals are shaped and influenced by society. Now that she lives in the Scottish shire, she spends her free time doing a bit of gardening, blogging about her new life in Scotland (scotlandkriers.wordpress.com), exploring the countryside with her dog, Luther, and visiting castles with her husband!

4 Responses to The Aurora Massacre: Is God Still Merciful?

Wow. There are few things more powerful than testimonies, and hers is definitely that. I love how she emphasized that this horrible, evil crime was not the work of God, but of man. When the first man and woman decided they wanted the right to choose, they gave us that right for the rest of time. And unfortunately sometimes we get people who choose to do horrible things to other people. But that does not mean God is not good, and that he doesn’t care. She’s right. God is always good, no matter what.

I think this woman’s response is beautifully expressed, and all the more incredible for having been written within hours of experiencing a MAJOR trauma. I have no idea how I’d respond to this kind of event — or to any of the three questions you pose. I feel like it’s impossible to imagine unless you’re actually in that situation. But I certainly *hope* that I might have the faith to handle it the way this woman has. (She also, a day or so later, wrote some great responses to comments she’d received –worth checking out on her blog).

Thanks for your feedback!
Some have asked “if God ‘allows’ these disasters to take place, is He not all loving, powerful and good?”…
What kind of response would you give to someone who poses this question? Is God not powerful enough to have free will, but also keep disasters and massacres from taking place?

Would we have to trade free will and pain, for… perfect peace but no free will?

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